At 11:19 AM 12/3/96 EST, you wrote:
<snipped list of excellent books>
>
>Llywelyn also wrote a "Finn" book for which I am searching for
>the pertinent information. Hints welcome.
>
It's called "Finn MacCool" and the cover's green but more than that I can't
tell you right now as for some reason that's the only book of hers that I
have that isn't on the shelf where it's supossed to be. Now, wait... there
it is! O.K., the ISBN is 0-812-524041-2 and it's published by Tor . She
also has one out about Amergin titled "Bard" also publised by Tor and the
ISBN is 0-812-58515-1; one titled "Druids" published by Ivy (ISBN
0-8041-0844-7); one about Grace of Umhall titled "Grania", also published by
Ivy (ISBN 0-8041-0116-7), two about Brian Boru- one titled "Lion of
Ireland", which I lent to someone so I don't have all the info, and one for
kids titled "Brian Boru", which I don't own. She also has one out titled
"Elementals" which is only somewhat related to the Celts but worthwhile, and
co-wrote a book with someone whose name escapes me titled "The Silver Hand"
that's supossed to be more of a sci-fi thing but I haven't read it yet. AS
for recommendations- she is a fantastic writer and I would read the J. Crew
catalog if she wrote the T-shirt descriptions.
As for other books, I recommend "A Treasury of Irish Myth, Legend and
Folklore" by W.B. Yeats and Lady Gregory (ISBN on the edition I have, which
is hardbound and published by Gramercy, is 0-517-48904-X), "A Celtic
Miscellany: A Selection of Classic Celtc Liturature" by Kenneth Hurlstone
Jackson (published by Barnes & Noble Books, ISBN 0-88029-095-1, and of
course, "The Mabinogion"- my edition is the Penguin edition translated by
Jeffery Gantz, ISBN 0-14-044322-3).
As for strictly fun reading, Evangeline Walton wrote a really good
adaptation of the Mabinogion in four volumes (one for each branch). "Prince
of Annwn" is the first, "The Children of LLyr" is the second, "The Song of
Rhiannon" is the third and "Island of the Mighty" is the fourth. Some
other really good ones, while not really sticking closely to the myths, are
the "Prydain Chronicles" by LLoyd Alexander and the "Dark is Rising"
sequence by Susan Cooper. Both of them are aimed more at kids (though not
in a dumb way, so adults can enjoy them too) and are series of five books
each (though both are collected into hardbound editions by the Sience
Fiction book club. In fact my husband joined the club just so he could get
my the Prydain Chronicles for my last birthday! :) ) A wonderful way to
get your kids hooked on Celtic Myth (They're what got my siblings and I into
it) and very well- written. The edition of the Prydain Chronicles I have
also has an introduction by the author where he explains some of the
differences between the actual myths and the stories in the book..
For more adult-oriented books, there's the Keliad books by Patricia
Kennealy-Morrison, which have been refered to as the "Celts in Space" books.
There's two different series of them out that I'm aware of- The Keltiad and
I think the other one is Tales of Arthur. The Keltiad books are, in order,
"The Copper Crown", "The Throne of Scone" and the "Silver Branch". These
books are so good that after reading the "Copper Crown", I felt compelled to
buy the other two immeadiately. I don't have the Arthur ones yet because
last I checked the third one wasn't out in paperback yet and I would go nuts
if I had to wait six months to get the end of the story.
Then there's the "Saga of the Pliocene Exile" by Julian May (which I don't
think I've ever seen mentioned on this list). Basic premise- The Tuatha De
Danaann and the Formorians are actually alien beings who inhabit Earth
during the Pliocene era before there were actually people. Then, someone in
30th century France builds a time machine that only works one way and sends
people back to the Pliocene era. There's four books in the series and they
are "The Many-Colored Land", "The Golden Torc", "The Nonborn King", and "The
Adversary". If you like both Celtic Myth and sci-fi (but aren't a stickler
for tradition), you might want to give them a try.
For those of you who may be interested in more visually- oriented
liturature, you definitely want to check out "The Book of Conquests" and
"The Silver Arm" by Jim Fitzpatrick (published by Paper Tiger).
*Beautifully* illustrated & illuminated, these graphic novels are also
excellent re-tellings of the Irish myths. You might also want to look into
the comic book series "The Book of Ballads and Sagas" by various Authors and
with art by Charles Vess (published by Green Man press), which does
adaptations of diffent folk stories and songs, including several Child
ballads and "Starchild" by James Owen (published by Coppervale Press), which
features Owen and the Wild Hunt, Rip Van Winkle, a talking raven, Tom the
Rhymer, and really hysterical parodies of Neil Gaimen and David Sims who
wrote or write "Sandman" and "Cerebus", respectively, all taking place in a
time period yet to be determined. There's "Mythography" (published by
Bardic Press), which the first issue just came out, which also deals with
different folks tales & myths and such, though it seems to focus on more
original material (and there's a hysterical though violent parody of Poe's
"The Raven" written and drawn by Drew Hayes, who writes and draws "Poision
Elves".)
DISCLAIMER: Just because these are comic books does *not* mean they are
intended for children. As it happens, these aren't intended for kids at
all, though "Starchild" and "Book of Ballads and Sagas" are pretty safe.
The Jim Fitzpatrick books are prone to having pictures of well- endowed nude
Goddesses scattered throughout.
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>Celtic Subject Films:
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How about the Secret of Roan Inish?
Sharon,
who hopes no one asks about Arthur now, as she will have to raid her book
collection again